Darlo Uncovered

There's a very fair interview with Curzon boss John Flanagan after the game in which he says he was disappointed they didn't score more goals and felt they dictated the second half. I particularly liked his comments about the prep for the game against Chester on Monday: "Hopefully the lads will stay in tonight and not go into town. I've asked them, not told them, to stay off the beer and to hydrate with the right things and do some stretching." Cue several celebratory hangovers this morning .

It's worth remembering that our home form has been poor for a while. April's three home matches were poor and our last home win came against the worn out North Ferriby.

Darlogramps wrote:Disagree. When we were challenging for the NLN play-offs, the season we came 5th, our attendances were below what we all expected. And that's even with the novelty factor of moving back.

You miss one important thing out though. In the run in, the final 5 or so games - Seatgate!!!!

We won all of these games, things were looking good and crowds would have gone up to boost our yearly figures, but deep down everyone knew it was all for nothing.

Apart from all the other stuff, 'Seatgate' cost us money.

How did the team fitness look overall?

I ask as we must have one of the larger pitches in the league, so if we're poor fitness wise, that might go towards explaining poorer home form. I know there's been concerns over the weight of a few

H1987 wrote:How did the team fitness look overall?

I ask as we must have one of the larger pitches in the league, so if we're poor fitness wise, that might go towards explaining poorer home form. I know there's been concerns over the weight of a few

Not sure about fitness but we didn't really play a pressing game, more a stand off and wait for a mistake to get the ball.

First game of the season with a new team and it seemed to show in the end. A few takes from me on the game.

We seemed to struggle with leaders on the pitch, you could hear Ainge organising the team and the defence but not a lot coming from the back or the midfield.
Ainge and Styche didn't really get going together on the day, I would say they will work but probably more in a 4-4-2 than a 4-3-1-2 or whatever we were trying yesterday.

We missed Thompson and when Henshall come on we had a bit of width, he looked like he could be dangerous but we were chasing the game. Also not playing 4-4-2 left both full backs exposed too much, O'Hanlon needed some back up as yesterday was one of his poorest displays yet.

Heard a bit of whinging from some fans and to be honest whilst we all have those thoughts I don't really understand how some can write off players after one game.

Interesting to see what Wright does on Tuesday night, Burn won't be available by all accounts so the back four will probably be the same. I think we need to go 4-4-2 with Thompson and Henshall coming in, so 2 drop out between Nicholson, Hughes, Wheatley and Elliott.

Elliott I thought was very good, mobile, tackled and got forward, he should have finished the chance when he was in and hit the bar.

All in all I think Wright has plenty to work with but also a couple of challenges to get us competing anywhere near top half.

super_les_mcjannet wrote:Heard a bit of whinging from some fans and to be honest whilst we all have those thoughts I don't really understand how some can write off players after one game.

I know -it's daft! We tuned into BBC York on the way back home and some of the phone in comments broadcast re their loss were ridiculous.

Had time to reflect and maybe I was expecting to much from the first game.
We now move on to the next game and hopefully a much better performance from the team, onwards and upwards with darlington fc, this is what being a darlington supporter is all about, next game please, forget Saturday.

The first 25 minutes was good, the game-plan worked - Curzon struggled to pick-up Nicholson and we were exploiting the middle. Well-taken goal by Ainge who is a monster in the air, and we looked in control.

The problem was though that we just stood-off and didn’t press (to be fair I think this is often TW’s gameplan), and they exploited our left-side. No foul IMO for their first, and their second was way too easy. It looked like we were playing a 4-1-2-1-2, but I think some were more comfortable than others.

Maddison will be disappointed with their first; but he had a good game aside. Trotman a bright-spark down the right - we probably need to link him back with Thompson. I saw more from Hughes against Sunderland & Motherwell than yesterday, I’m hoping it was his off-day. Nicholson looked dangerous for the first half-hour and Elliot looks a very good player.

Our heads completely dropped after their first which was disappointing. The question would be whether TW goes 4-4-2 against Spennymoor, or 4-3-3 that we saw in pre-season. During our good spell last season we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 but now we have two proper goalscorers that we need to get the best out of.

For the record I thought Henshall came off the bench and did well, if we were going to score, it would have been through that side. We can’t blame the ref really, he wasn’t properly involved until the last 10-15 minutes when he made a few questionable decisions.

Maddison

Trotman
Collins
Galbraith
O’Hanlon

Thompson
Elliott
Wheatley
Henshall

Styche
Ainge

or

Maddison

Trotman
Collins
Galbraith
O’Hanlon

Hughes
Wheatley
Elliot

Thompson
Ainge
Styche

With so many young, under 23, players in the team the senior players need to step up, become more vocal and try to help/encourage/organise the younger players. With the exception of Ainge this didn't happen yesterday.

Darlogramps wrote:

Lots of disappointment at a poor performance after a lot of hype in pre-season

To be fair most of the hype comes from the very same fans who are quick to criticise when things don't go our way.
Thats not aimed at you by the way.

As for the game, we got plenty of crosses in early on and had 3 or 4 good opportunities to score but only took the one. Trotman got some crosses in 2nd half too but there was nobody on the end of them.
We certainly had enough good chances to get at least a draw out of the game but if you don't take them then you get what you deserve.

theoriginalfatcat wrote:It's worth remembering that our home form has been poor for a while. April's three home matches were poor and our last home win came against the worn out North Ferriby.

Well for about half of our squad it is more like an away game.

How long before Ainge is reverted back to a centre half?

We don't have a leader at the back since Heaton left. Galbraith, Collins nor Burn fall into this category. I'll give it until Xmas.

Disappointed after a great first 25 mins when Darlo were well in control. Maddison was excellent (other than that lapse for the first goal). Defence looked ok throughout the game (although not comfortable on set pieces). Ainge and Styche did ok as well especially as they had to work to get the ball most of the game. In midfield we have some what look like quality players but were all over the place chasing the ball leaving massive space on the wings which was exploited and put serious pressure on the fullbacks. Hughes clearly can pass a ball but looked slow on the day, after looking to be improving in each of the pre season games and would have liked to see Syres come on when we went behind for Hughes. Ainge was the only one being vocal when we needed the team to lift their heads and drive. Overall Curzon looked more organised, slightly fitter and played as a team who knew each other well but it was our first game and we have some tallent in the team so just need the right formation and team believing in themselves and we will be ok.
Last year we had great start that went to rats - lets hope this year is the othe way around.

"Up the Quakers"

First 25 mins we looked good, the rest of the game was poor. Having said that we still probably had enough chances to get a point at least.

I can't see how 3 in midfield is going to work if we play Styche and Ainge, as it leaves us far too narrow. Hopefully Wright realises this quickly and we go 442 from now on. Ainge showed that he'll be incredibly effective if we get the ball in the box, so let's exploit that.

we missed thompson ! no we didn't, he would have been run rag id , iv had time to think about what happened as well , ill give Wright 5 games. if that .btw it isnt any disrespect to the man , its just when i watched him yesterday he didnt have a clue what to do

Seventynine wrote:we missed thompson ! no we didn't, he would have been run rag id , iv had time to think about what happened as well , ill give Wright 5 games. if that .

whats funny al ?

Your entire post

your going to piss yourself now when i say iv never rated the guy , hes lazy and only turned up when it suited him , so no, we dont miss him, he wouldent have made a blind difference yesterday.

Well, everyone is entitled to an opinion I suppose

Seventynine wrote:your going to piss yourself now when i say iv never rated the guy , hes lazy and only turned up when it suited him , so no, we dont miss him, he wouldent have made a blind difference yesterday.

Your knowledge about football is about as good as your knowledge of the English language if that is your opinion.Laughable.

If the one and only good thing comes out of Saturday is that 433 or any other Mickey Mouse combination is that it’s dead and buried, TW 4 4 2 ffs

I’ve always been curious as to how the players we’ve bought would all fit together, based on yesterday I think Tommy is in the same boat. For me it’s Ainge or Styche not Ainge and Styche. Given Ainge looked like a defender playing up front on Saturday I’d go with Styche with Ainge at the back or on the bench for the moment. The 4-5-1 last season worked really well by giving both the width and the extra man in the middle when needed. I hope we go back to that now that Thommo is back.

Thompson was missed yesterday - that little bit of extra invention, that spark that he usually brings could have made all the difference.

Curzon worked hard to nullify Ainge and Styche, could they have done this and looked after Thompson too?

Seventynine wrote:your going to piss yourself now when i say iv never rated the guy , hes lazy and only turned up when it suited him , so no, we dont miss him, he wouldent have made a blind difference yesterday.

In an extremely wide field, this is possibly the most ridiculous thing I've read on this board.

biccynana wrote:

Seventynine wrote:your going to piss yourself now when i say iv never rated the guy , hes lazy and only turned up when it suited him , so no, we dont miss him, he wouldent have made a blind difference yesterday.

In an extremely wide field, this is possibly the most ridiculous thing I've read on this board.

Agree totally. More than a touch of Carlsberg in that 79 post, probably.

So how many games does O’Hanlon miss is it 1 or 3 ?

dfc4me wrote:With so many young, under 23, players in the team the senior players need to step up, become more vocal and try to help/encourage/organise the younger players. With the exception of Ainge this didn't happen yesterday.

Isn't that meant to be the role of the Captain?

Darlopartisan wrote:So how many games does O’Hanlon miss is it 1 or 3 ?

Only 1 for an offence of this nature. 3 match bans involve violent conduct.

MikeinBlack2 wrote:

dfc4me wrote:With so many young, under 23, players in the team the senior players need to step up, become more vocal and try to help/encourage/organise the younger players. With the exception of Ainge this didn't happen yesterday.

Isn't that meant to be the role of the Captain?

We've got plenty of experienced players in the squad - Galbraith and Collins have played loads of football at this level and the level below. Hughes has plenty of experience as do the two up front. This core of players should be leadinig and organising.

MikeinBlack2 wrote:

dfc4me wrote:With so many young, under 23, players in the team the senior players need to step up, become more vocal and try to help/encourage/organise the younger players. With the exception of Ainge this didn't happen yesterday.

Isn't that meant to be the role of the Captain?

From what I can here on the pitch Styche seems more to be having a go at players rather than 'help/encourage/organise ' some might respond to this others won't.